PSYCHOLOGY
In my
opinion, advocating, allowing and practicing psychiatric and psychoanalytical
dogmas within the church is every bit as pagan and heretical (and therefore
perilous) as propagating the teachings of some of the most bizarre cults. The
only vital difference is that the cults are less dangerous because their errors
are more identifiable.
The amount of
research against psychology is amazing and from people in
their own camps… The impossibility of integration of avowedly pagan
psychologists with Scripture seems obvious. One begins to wonder whether these
promoters of psychology have any biblical discernment… Church leaders must bear
the guilt of the invasion of psychology into the church. These are the people
who are ordained of God to guard the minds of their sheep (I Tim. 4:1, 2, 6). Instead,
they have invited wolves into the fold. Christian publishers are guilty as
well. The “profit margin” has become the most important consideration for them.
In reality Christian publishers ought to be under the authority of the church,
so even in this area church leaders are at fault.
Ed Payne
A Trojan
horse full of dangerous psycho-fantasies has been professionally prepared for
us by Christian psychiatrists and psychologists… At base, such therapies stand
upon dogma, not scientific observations, and the dogma is the odious one of
Freud and his followers who were some of the century's
most anti-Christ teachers. No amount of well- intentioned refinement of deadly
doctrines will make them clean for use by Christians. Though gems are usually
found in coal mines, Christians who go fossicking for
gems of God's truth in psychoanalytic coal mines will usually emerge
empty-handed and filthy… Christians of discernment should avoid the dangerous
system completely.
Hilton P. Terrell
Outside the
Word and the Spirit there are no solutions to any of the problems of the human
soul. Only God knows the soul and only God can change it. Yet the widely
accepted ideas of modern psychology are theories originally developed by
atheists on the assumption that there is no God and the individual alone has
the power to change himself into a better person through certain techniques.
Surprisingly, the church has embraced many of the popular theories of secular
psychology, and their impact over the past few years has been [devastating].
John MacArthur
Resurrecting
and Old Heresy from Our Sufficiency in Christ, 1991, Crossway Books, a division
of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. p. 31-32.
“Christian
psychology” as the term is used today is an oxymoron. The word psychology no longer speaks of studying
the soul; instead it describes a diverse menagerie of therapies and theories
that are fundamentally humanistic. The presuppositions and most of the doctrine
of psychology cannot be successfully integrated with Christian truth. Moreover,
the infusion of psychology into the teaching of the church has blurred the line
between behavior modification and sanctification.
John MacArthur
Does
God Need a Psychiatrist? from Our Sufficiency in Christ, 1991, Crossway Books,
a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. p. 58.
[Inaccurate
assumptions of psychology include] human nature is basically good, people have
the answers to their problems inside them, the key to understanding and
correcting a person’s attitudes and actions lies somewhere in his past,
individuals’ problems are the result of what someone else has done to them,
human problems can be purely psychological in nature – unrelated to any
spiritual or physical condition, deep-seated problems can be solved only by
professional counselors using therapy, Scripture, prayer, and the Holy Spirit
are inadequate and simplistic resources for solving certain types of problems.
John MacArthur
Does
God Need a Psychiatrist? from Our Sufficiency in Christ, 1991, Crossway Books,
a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. p. 60-61.
Psychology is
no more a science than the atheistic evolutionary theory upon which it is
based. Like theistic evolution, “Christian psychology” is an attempt to
harmonize two inherently contradictory systems of thought. Modern psychology
and the Bible cannot be blended without serious compromise to or utter
abandonment of the principle of Scripture’s sufficiency.
John MacArthur
Does
God Need a Psychiatrist? from Our Sufficiency in Christ, 1991, Crossway Books,
a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. p. 66.
Sin is called
sickness, so people think it requires therapy, not repentance. Habitual sin is
called addictive or compulsive behavior, and many surmise its solution is
medical care rather than moral correction.
John MacArthur
Does
God Need a Psychiatrist? from Our Sufficiency in Christ, 1991, Crossway Books,
a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. p. 67.
Psychological
sanctification has become a substitute for the Spirit-filled life. What point
is there in seeking the Holy Spirit’s comfort if, after all, deep-seated
emotional problems can be addressed only by a trained psychologist, or if
people can come to grips with their lives only by getting in touch with their
childhood, or if the answers to our deepest hurts are buried deep within us? If
those things are true, we don’t need an Advocate; we need a therapist. And that
is precisely the route many in the church have chosen.
John MacArthur
Psychological Sanctification? from Our Sufficiency
in Christ, 1991, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton
Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org.
p. 105.
Tolerance and
passivity define today’s approach to parenting. Restraint and correction are
deemed too confining for the child’s psyche. Self-esteem has superseded
self-control. Parents are afraid to correct wrong behavior. They are urged by experts
to let their children express themselves freely. Too many parents are utterly
absent from their own children’s sphere of moral influence. The child’s nature
is simply permitted to take its course, and by the time the parent realizes the
utter depravity of the child’s heart, things are already on a course for
calamity.
John MacArthur
Successful Christian Parenting, 1998, p.
33-34.
Let us be
ruthless to root out theoretical structures that view people as psychological
or socio-pyschological abstractions: the phenomena
observed are not “ego defense mechanisms” but are pride’s offensive, defensive,
and deceptive strategies. And let us also reject the therapeutic assumptions
that are consequent to the theory: they are poor and deceptive substitutes for
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
David Powlison
Seeing With New Eyes, P&R Publishers, 2003,
p. 198.
“Self” is at
the center of our lusts – our supposed needs for significance, worth, security,
identity, or esteem. A psychologized, man-centered view of God and of man
appeals to our natural sense of loving ourselves and thus deceives us.
Martha Peace
Attitudes of a Transformed Heart, Focus,
2002, p. 41.